The police on Thursday achieved a major success when Chief Commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad Sajjad Afghani alias Qari Hamaad, a Pakistani national, was killed in an encounter in Srinagar city.
Official sources said on a tip-off , the police laid a trap on the foreshore road of Dal Lake in the afternoon. “On a tip-off, we deputed a party to the area and the car in which he [Afghani] was travelling was intercepted,” said a senior police officer adding that Afghani and his accomplice identified as Umar Bilal (a resident of Pakistan) fired upon the party resulting in the encounter.
Both the militants were killed and a girl, who was passing by, received minor injuries.
The officer said that Afghani was one of the longest serving militants in Kashmir and had recently moved to Srinagar from Sopore. “He was trying to establish a network in the city to carry on with his plans of creating disturbances,” he said.
A huge cache of arms and ammunition has been recovered from the possession of the slain militants.
A police spokesman said the Jaish Commander was involved in masterminding the Qamarwari attack and also had sent militants, who were subsequently killed at Maloora on the outskirts of Srinagar.
“He was also responsible for an attack in Pattan last year and an attack on the residence of SP of Sopore on December 5, 2010. He was also actively perusing the regrouping of Jaish militants in Tarzoo area. He was active in Sopore, Rafiabad and Zainageer area,” the spokesman said.
